Creating and configuring component-based applications using a text-based descriptive attribute grammar

Abstract

A method for creating and configuring a component-based application through text-based descriptive attribute grammar includes creating a parse tree from an application description file, transforming the parse tree into a plurality of components corresponding to instances of classes in an application framework, and initializing and further processing the components to launch the component-based application. Additionally, a system for creating and configuring a component-based application includes a parser, a plurality of element processors, an element mapper, an attribute mapper, and a parameter converter.

Description

1. Field of the InventionThe present invention relates generally to object-oriented programming, and more particularly, to a method and system for creating and configuring a component-based, object-oriented program using a text-based descriptive attribute grammar.2. Identification of CopyrightA portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.3. Description of the Background ArtOver the last two decades, object-oriented frameworks have become increasingly important in the design and development of software applications. Designing an application with a framework of objects, or "components," promises numerous benefits, including the ability to reuse those components in a vari...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The promised benefits of object-oriented frameworks, however, have not always been easy to realize in practice.

Creating and configuring component-based applications is often a complex, time-consuming process.

However, none of those frameworks are based on the standardized, text-based descriptive grammar described above, nor realize the advantages resulting therefrom.

Although the above systems offer solutions to a variety of development problems, none, however, allow applications to be effectively created and configured using a text-based application description language based on an SGML-compliant syntax.

Such binary code files are not text-based and thus are neither editable nor accessible to text-oriented tools.

As a result, the semantic content of these script files can only be productively inspected and analyzed by the specific tools and editors dedicated to that particular language.

In short, while there are a wealth of powerful component-oriented application frameworks and authoring tools, none of them are based on a standardized, text-based descriptive grammar or realize the advantages which accompany being based on such a grammar.

However, the hybrid-HTML format has a number of limitations and disadvantages.

These procedural "scripts" cannot be inspected or parsed by generic, SGML tools and often contain instructions proprietary to a particular browser vendor.

Another disadvantage is that, in the hybrid-HTML format, each component "plug-in" is a separate and independent "black box" with its own, idiosyncratic interface to the browser's scripting language.

Thus, it is difficult, particularly for non-programmers, to integrate a variety of components into a single component-based application.

Yet another problem is that, although HTML tags can be used to declare attributes associated with standard browser components and user-interface controls, there is little or no coordination between the structure of the markup tags and the underlying data structures employed by the browser application itself.

Thus, hybrid-HTML does not provide a sufficiently sophisticated architecture to integrate large-scale component-based applications.

Finally, hybrid-HTML is limited by the rigidity of HTML itself.

Nor is there any ability to map new element tags to new components or to extend the functionality of the browser application through code-based subclassing.

Consequently, HTML-based browsers were not designed to actually create and configure a component-based application through descriptive tags alone.

No existing method or system, however, has effectively tapped XML's potential.

Unlike typical XML or SGML files, a BML file cannot be validated by reference to a pre-existing DTD.

Appropriate error messages are generated when a ADML fails to conform to the DTD's rules.

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